


#6

by prettyaveragewhiteshark



Category: The Lost Legacy, Uncharted (Video Games), Uncharted: the Lost Legacy
Genre: Angst, Emotional, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotions, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, One Shot, One-Shot, one F bomb but that's it i promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-18 11:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12387057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettyaveragewhiteshark/pseuds/prettyaveragewhiteshark
Summary: The five times Nadine could've kissed Chloe, but she didn't.





	#6

**Author's Note:**

> *throws confetti* Sam doesn't exist on the bridge scene *jazz hands*

Nadine could’ve kissed Chloe when she finally woke up. She’d been sitting beside her prone form, anxiously watching her chest rise and fall, waiting for the moment it stopped to leap in and perform CPR, trying to keep from thinking about the crushing sound of Chloe’s body as it had hit the floor after her 30-foot fall from the structure above. She clocked the minutes as they passed, knowing that once an hour was up she’d have to try to wake Chloe as gently as she could to prevent her from possibly slipping into a coma. Nadine’s veins throbbed from the incessant adrenaline coursing through them, bruising her from the inside out, making her heart ache. She barely noticed her own actual injuries; the gashes hardly hurt compared to the way her gut twisted looking at Chloe’s unconscious face.

_Wake up, Frazer. Please wake up._

She told herself it was because she couldn’t handle this mission alone. Asav and his men were no match for the two of them, but Nadine on her own wouldn’t live to see sunrise. And, she reasoned, having to inform Chloe’s family of her demise would be a burden she didn’t have the time for. Those were the only reasons her heart felt like a stone in her chest, she insisted, lifting Chloe’s limp hand from the ground and pressing two fingers against her pulse point. Her skin was still warm, the throb of blood in her wrist strong and steady. Nadine forgot to even glance at her watch to check the pace of her heartbeat and found herself staring at Chloe, as if watching her bruised and dirty face closely would make her wake faster.

 _I should’ve fought harder,_ Nadine thought, a twist of guilt in her chest making her look away.

If she’d taken Asav down when she’d had the chance, they wouldn’t be here. They’d be well on their way toward the Tusk. Chloe would be making some kind of witty quip that would make Nadine either laugh or roll her eyes or both at the same time. If Nadine had just been stronger, if she’d gotten up faster after that APC barreled through the wall, if she hadn’t let Asav take her down so quickly and left Chloe to defend herself alone against that brute of a man, this wouldn’t have happened. A burst of agony hit Nadine somewhere around the lungs as she realized that if Chloe died here, it would be her fault.

But then Chloe stirred, eyes still closed, making a muffle sound of pain. Nadine dropped her hand carefully, leaning over her, nearly forgetting herself and touching Chloe’s cheek.

“Frazer?”

Chloe answered with a groggy groan.

“Frazer, hey, you okay?”

Chloe’s eyes opened. She looked dazed and pained, blinking up at the ceiling for a moment as if to clear her vision.

“Yeah,” she said finally. “Think so.”

As she rolled to her side, Nadine felt a protective instinct.

“Hey, take it easy. You’ve been out for almost half an hour.”

“Half an hour?” Chloe repeated, growing panic in her voice. “Oh, shit. Shit, Asav’s got the disc.”

Nadine was at her side, helping her stand, hands careful on her back and shoulder.

“Just hang on.”

“We’ve got to get going,” Chloe said, though her voice was strained and cracking with pain.

“Hey, relax, alright?” Nadine said, firmer this time. Stubborn as Chloe was, Nadine wouldn’t doubt for a second that she’d take off without even a cursory assessment of her injuries and God only knew what had been broken in the fight and fall.

Chloe straightened, letting out a slow, careful breath.

“Think you can manage?” Nadine asked. She tried not to let the worry come through her tone.

“Yeah. I’ve had worse nights, believe me,” Chloe said, a wry grin crossing her lips. Her gray eyes glinted as she looked up and relief poured like a river through Nadine. At the very least, she was still well enough for her usual witty comments.

“I won’t ask,” Nadine grinned, the weight in her chest suddenly gone.

Chloe chuckled blithely, looking back down again.

Nadine could’ve kissed her then, could’ve reached out and touched her bloody cheek and brought their lips together gently and let the worry of the last agonizing thirty minutes pour into it. But she didn’t. She just watched Chloe quietly, then told her, “It’s good to have you back.”

 

* * *

 

She could’ve kissed her in front of a family of elephants, when there was forgiveness in her palms and an apology in Chloe’s eyes; when the hurt and the fury of Chloe’s betrayal was quickly fading from her mind because she’d always been good at hating but, God, hating Chloe hurt far worse than the effort of forgiving her; when Chloe’s vulnerability was close to the surface and Nadine had a feeling that Chloe hadn’t told anyone this much about her father since, well, ever. And Nadine could swear the sound of Chloe’s laughter felt like warm rain, and Nadine shocked even herself with her offer of truce but it felt so worth it because of the way Chloe was looking at her now.

She could’ve kissed her. But she didn’t. She just took a picture of Chloe petting an elephant from a distance, and she touched her shoulder when she handed the phone back, and she felt a strange joy because she knew that, at least for now, she didn’t have to be angry or alone and she’d never quite felt that before.

 

* * *

 

She could’ve kissed her in the room where her father had stood. Chloe was stripped to the core, Nadine could see it on her profile, in the tight lines of her neck and jaw, in the crack and tremor of her voice, in the way her usually steadfast wit was nowhere to be found. Nadine was her anchor; she kept a small, comforting smile on her face, because she knew if she allowed her broken heart for Chloe to show, they would both sink.

“You said it yourself. He wanted to keep you safe.”

When Chloe sank to the floor, her eyes distant and misted over, Nadine could’ve kissed her. She could’ve sat beside her, pulled her close, pressed her lips to her cheeks, her temples, the crown of her head, let them say what she didn’t dare voice aloud.

_He would be proud of you. I’ll keep you safe now._

But she was still and close instead, crouching beside her, watching carefully, being present for the next thing Chloe needed.

“I can’t let Asav get that tusk,” Chloe said, ever the unwitting hero, the sacrificial lamb. It was a vow she was making, to finish her father’s journey, to make his death worthwhile, even if it meant giving her last breath to honor his memory.

So Nadine echoed the vow, because she would stay and she needed Chloe to know.

“No, we can’t.”

In the stillness of that promise, Chloe looked up. Her gray eyes were sad but they were clear, as if she were seeing Nadine for the first time. She looked at her, unashamed, not hiding behind her sarcasm or her humor. She was simply there, and in that moment Nadine saw her, too.

“Thank you,” Chloe said.

 

* * *

 

She could’ve kissed her when Asav took them captive, a desperate _goodbye_ and _I_ _love you even if I never get to say it_. On the long walk to the final chamber, she felt the ache of loss and fear deep in her throat, and it was all she could do to keep from kicking Sam’s knee in sideways when he tried needling her. If they were killed in whatever horror Asav had waiting for them, she imagined her spirit would wander the world forever, searching for Chloe’s, seeking out the kiss she never got to give. And for the first time in her long history of near-death experiences, she was afraid to die.

They threw her to her knees. Asav meant to coerce Chloe into unlocking the final puzzle to reveal the Tusk of Ganesh. Chloe, as stubborn as ever, refused, until the man to Nadine’s left struck her full in the face with the butt of his shotgun. Nadine saw the pain as much as she felt it, the force of blow spinning her around completely before she landed hard against the stone floor. And suddenly it was enough for Chloe, and Nadine heard her desperate voice nearly scream.

“Alright!”

And the pain was hardly there anymore, because Nadine suddenly understood that even if they never kissed, Chloe loved her. She loved her, because she would give up the most precious thing in her life in order to protect Nadine. And though Nadine didn’t want to be the reason Chloe sacrificed so much, she couldn’t help but understand it. Because she would have done the same. Because she loved Chloe too.

But the joy of it, the relief, was fleeting. Nadine could feel death creeping closer to them all, hiding in the shadows, waiting to do Asav’s bidding. So she never took her eyes off Chloe as she paced the room, assessed the murals, piecing together the puzzle aloud the way she always did. Nadine held onto each syllable she spoke, her biting tone when speaking to Asav, her pensive intelligence as she unraveled the riddle. She kept her eyes on Chloe’s face, attempting to commit to memory the way she looked like this, the gray of her eyes in the firelight, the curved bridge of her nose that Nadine found so striking, the way her dark, wet hair stuck to the skin of her neck. She wanted Chloe, the essence of her, the truest parts, to be the last thing she knew before she died.

And she watched as Chloe solved the final pieces, stitching the clues all together. She watched as the imposing statue of Parashurama cranked the great axe backward, poised to strike. Fear gripped Nadine’s throat then.

“The axe,” she cried. “It’s going to fall.”

It was her way of begging Chloe to stop, to think about what would come next, just this once. But Chloe was steady and she didn’t respond. She didn’t meet Nadine’s eyes.

“Ganesh,” Chloe murmured. “Quite an obstacle you’ve placed in my path.”

Nadine’s heart was in her throat and suddenly she was sending up a prayer, the only one she’d ever said in her life.

_Not this time, Ganesh. I can’t lose her._

She heard Chloe’s voice. “He yielded.”

There was a metallic click as Chloe locked in the mechanism, an instant of echoing silence, and then Parashurama’s giant metal arms moved with snake swiftness and the axe swung at Chloe’s open throat. Nadine didn’t see what happened. In an instant, all of her demons came flooding forward, and she very distinctly heard the sound of slicing flesh, and she watched as Chloe’s beheaded body dropped to its knees, bleeding and lifeless.

Then the vision was gone, and Nadine was staring at a very alive Chloe standing with her hands up, her chest heaving and the axe resting mere inches from the skin of her jugular. Nadine felt she couldn’t breathe. She didn’t know what was real.

“Are you alright?” she asked, her voice strangled.

“Yeah,” Chloe said, a little breathless. “That was unexpected.”

Yes. She was alive. Chloe was still alive. Nadine sat back on her heels, her body folding in relief, feeling like the earth had dropped out from beneath her for a few horrifying moments. She could’ve kissed her then, too, as Asav chained them to the metal rail. A demanding kiss, _don’t you ever fucking scare me like that again_.

But, as the water began roaring in, she hardly felt like now was the right time.

 

* * *

  

She could’ve kissed her when Chloe said she was going after the train. Could’ve slapped her too. _Everything we’ve survived, and now you’re just jumping into harm’s way on purpose?_ But yes, of course she was. Because she was the people’s savior to a fault, ever the vigilant martyr. And Nadine wouldn’t have followed her all over the jungles of India and through life-threatening peril if she had been anyone else.

“I can’t just walk away,” Chloe said, and she had that look in her eye, that clear, sad understanding that Nadine had only seen once before. “I’m tired of walking away.”

If there hadn’t been an audience, Nadine would’ve kissed her. Would’ve taken that stubborn face in her hands and silently begged her not to go on this suicide mission. Maybe that way she could’ve changed her mind, given her something to stay for. But her pride was too great to do anything of the sort in front of the likes of Samuel Drake. So she stood, wrestling with herself, not speaking for a long moment. And finally, when the words came, she let them out, only loud enough for Chloe to hear, and she was only brave enough to meet her eyes after she knew there was no taking them back.

“You’ll die.”

It was the only way she knew how to say _I love you_ , and she saw the turn of Chloe’s lips, the understanding in those gray eyes. Chloe knew.

“I can live with that,” she said. _I love you, too._

And just like that, she turned to leave. And because Nadine Ross was just as stubborn a dickhead as Chloe Frazer, she took shotgun on the one-way trip toward certain death. The only thing that mattered to her was that she would die at Chloe’s side. That was all that mattered.

 

* * *

 

She could’ve kissed her on the bridge. Breathless, boneless, shaking with adrenaline, smoke and ash settling around them from the inferno below. The amount of times her life had flashed before her eyes in the last twenty minutes was making her head spin. She was alive, and she could hardly believe it. But more importantly, so was Chloe. Nadine looked across to her. She lay on her stomach, propped up on her elbows, head bowed. Nadine stood gingerly and sat beside her.

“You alright?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Chloe said, lifting her head, laughing a little as she looked up at Nadine. “Just trying to figure out how we got out of that alive.”

Nadine chuckled, leaning back on her hands. “Yeah, me too.”

Chloe sounded awestruck. “We just did a thing.”

Nadine glanced down at her. She nodded. “We did.”

She shifted a little, giving Chloe space as she moved into a sitting position.

“So,” Chloe sighed. “What’s next for Nadine Ross? Take back Shoreline? Conquer the weapons trade?”

Nadine gazed out at the sunset, watching it illuminate the untouched city in the distance. She felt the orange warmth of it on her skin. She felt at peace.

“I’m done with Shoreline.”

She smiled a bit as Chloe turned a gobsmacked look on her.

“Really?”

“Really,” Nadine shrugged. “If anything, I was thinking I might give this treasure hunting racket another go. Know of any selfish dickheads who might be in need of a partner?”

Chloe turned her gaze away then, replacing her delighted shock with a wrinkled nose. “Ah, sorry, I only work with professionals.”

Nadine laughed then, tipping her head back. “Right.”

A brief silence fell between them. Chloe still seemed to be processing the idea of Nadine’s departure from her mercenary life, gazing out at the view before them. Nadine felt her heart begin to race again, but this time it wasn’t for fear of her life. She hadn’t been so still and so close and so safe with Chloe since this whole thing had begun, and now she couldn’t think of anything except Chloe’s presence at her side.

“Nadine,” Chloe said.

Nadine looked at her, and Chloe’s lips parted like she was going to say something, but she was silent, as if the words just wouldn’t come.

Nadine could’ve kissed Chloe then. But she didn’t. Because she didn’t have the chance. Because Chloe kissed her first.

Chloe leaned in and her hand was on Nadine’s cheek, pulling her close, and then their lips were pressing together and Nadine was frozen for a moment, shock and elation coursing in equal parts through her veins. But then she kissed Chloe back, and she was surprised by how gentle she was, how soft her lips were, how earnest the kiss tasted. She felt tears welling up, making her throat tighten because _God, I thought I’d watch you die today. God, I thought I’d have to lose you._

And Chloe felt it, because she pulled her closer and kissed her deeper, slowly, with need and promise and comfort. Nadine could smell, under the gunsmoke and dirt and the Indian jungle, the scent of Chloe’s skin, and it wrapped in perfect harmony with the taste of her lips, and Nadine felt safer than she’d ever felt in her whole life.

When their lips parted, their foreheads still touched and Nadine looked at Chloe and her gray eyes were soft and a little scared and she let out a shaky breath.

“Partners, then?”

Nadine didn’t answer. She just kissed her again.

 


End file.
